Porter Hedges has expanded its energy practice with the opening of a new office in Oklahoma City led by partner C. Ray Lees, the firm said in an Oct. 22 release.

Lees’ practice focuses on upstream and midstream oil and gas transactions including mergers, A&D, joint ventures, finance and real estate. He joins Porter Hedges along with of counsel Kendra D. Streeter and associates John H. Edwards and David K. Gannaway.

Houston-based Porter Hedges' growth into Oklahoma City expands the firm's capacity to service energy clients in an important market and advances its strategic long-term vision to establish itself as one of the leading energy law firms in the country, said Rob Reedy, firm managing partner, in a statement.

“Ray is one of the most highly regarded oil and gas transactional attorneys in the country, and he and his team are a perfect fit to expand the breadth and depth of our upstream and midstream energy transactions team," Reedy said. "We already have mutual clients and an established working relationship, so this was a natural transition for both sides.”

Prior to establishing the Oklahoma City office for Porter Hedges, Lees was managing partner of Commercial Law Group PC in Oklahoma City.

Lees has advised clients on some of the oil and gas industry’s largest conventional and unconventional oil and gas acquisition and divestiture transactions, including deals with a combined value of more than $80 billion over the last 10 years. He has worked in every significant shale basin in the country, including the Barnett, Eagle Ford, Fayetteville, Haynesville, Marcellus, Mississippi Lime, Niobrara, Permian and Utica plays.

He has also counseled clients in equity commitments from private investors and energy financing transactions involving oil and gas and midstream assets across the country.

“Oklahoma City is a great place to work and live, in large part as a direct result of local energy companies investing both in their businesses and in our city. Porter Hedges has a first class energy transactional practice, and given my established working relationship with the firm and a need for a broader platform of expertise in our primary practice areas in order to fully service clients, our partnership is an ideal match,” Lees said in a statement.